Prior art of the generic type is known from DE 20110628U1. That publication discloses a transport device having a carrier frame, to which is fitted a device for handling objects to be transported. The device includes a gripping hook that acts as a retention member and that engages behind an object to be transported in an operative position and supports it in the direction of gravitational force. The load acting on the gripping hook is dissipated into the carrier frame by means of a pin that is secured to the carrier frame and that engages in a slot-like opening in the gripping hook. If the gripping hook is in an operative position, an object supported on the gripping hook can be lifted by means of a corresponding movement of the carrier frame with a vertical lifting movement and can be transported away.
The gripping hook can be moved by means of a drive motor in the form of a pneumatic piston/cylinder unit into the operative position, in which it engages behind an object to be transported and also into a non-operative position, in which it is withdrawn relative to an object to be transported. During its movements, the gripping hook is guided by guide devices on the carrier frame of the transport device in such a manner that it describes a curved movement path. The gripping hook driven by the pneumatic piston/cylinder unit pivots with a two-axis movement into the operative position or the non-operative position along the curved movement path, which is produced by means of the mutual superimposition of a vertical and a horizontal gripping hook movement. So that the gripping hook can carry out curved movements into the operative position and the non-operative position, a correspondingly large movement space must be provided.